Saad representing Geagea: We are with the return of the displaced the soonest possible

March 3, 2019 by onlinearabnews.com

MP Fadi Saad reiterated the Lebanese Forces Party's strong support for the return of Syrian refugees to safe areas in their homeland at the nearest possible.

"We say that we are with the return of the displaced to their country as soon as possible without any description whether it is voluntary or non-voluntary," he said, speaking on behalf of LF Party Chief Samir Geagea during a dinner banquet hosted by the Party's branch in Abrine on Saturday.

"It is certainly our humanitarian duty to embrace the displaced who have been forced to leave their homes due to torture and murder, but there is a priority and a limit to putting up with displacement, which is our security, social and economic stability that is in danger today. There is no faltering country in the world that can endure having two thirds of its people comprised of the displaced!" exclaimed Saad.

"If the problem is that their homes are destroyed, the displaced in Lebanon live in tents and in their hometowns they will live in tents as well, so it is better for them to return and live on their land," he added.

"When we say voluntary return, this is a non-sovereign decision, and the decision to return the displaced is a sovereign decision. Either the government makes a decision to return the displaced people to safe areas in their country or there is a decline in sovereignty...Anything besides that denotes a sovereignty that is incomplete," underlined Saad.

"What if the displaced decide not to return, will we continue to bear the burden of two million refugees living in our country with infrastructure that barely holds the Lebanese people and a deteriorating economy?" he questioned. "Surely, we will not accept that the return of the displaced be linked to normalization with the Syrian regime," he asserted.

Touching on the issue of combating corruption, Saad deemed that "waste expenditure is corruption...abuse of power is corruption and haphazard employment is corruption...exploitation of poverty and hunger of people is corruption...and so is judicial politicization and unfair justice."

"Fighting corruption is not only a slogan we raise whenever we want while practicing something else. Those who want to fight corruption should follow our example, for we have passed through all posts and councils with no suspicions raised against us," highlighted Saad.

He concluded by saying: "We are ready to sacrifice more for the sake of Lebanon, in order to preserve a fully sovereign state, a state of justice and equality, a state of freedom and human dignity."